Drift Compatible
by Mara Beth
Summary: "To fight monsters, we created monsters of our own." When Earth is invaded by an alien species, victims become normal people, normal people become heroes, and heroes become villains. Humanity creates monsters- and they aren't the Jaegers. Pacific Rim AU, warnings for Major Character Death and physical and mental trauma.
1. Chapter 1

**Writing this is fulfilling several personal writing challenges for me, and I'm hoping all of you will enjoy it. If this interests you, let me know and I'll continue it. I've got a storyline mapped out, so I'm prepared to continue this.**

**Prior knowledge of Pacific Rim isn't necessary for reading this, but it will probably be more fun if you have seen it. If you haven't, I highly recommend it.**

**Special thanks to Connor for beta-reading for me and just generally putting up with me.**

* * *

><p>"Jack! Jack, wake up, c'mon, let's go!" Miko clapped her hands and flicked the lights on and off, somehow turning waking Jack up into something reminiscent of an extremely low-budget party.<p>

A muffled "Five more minutes, mom" could be heard from the pillow. Miko blew a strand of hair out of her face and put her hands on her hips.

"Five minutes, Jackrabbit? Do you know how much damage a Kaiju can DO in five minutes?" Jack groaned and pulled a blanket over his head. "TOO MUCH! Get UP, Jack!" She grabbed the blanket and gave it a tug, sending Jack tumbling to the floor. "Ah, there he is!"

"Miko..." he pushed himself into a sitting position and rubbed his head. "We're not even in the Jaeger yet and you've already almost killed me." She was already dressed in her piloting outfit and, satisfied that Jack was awake, had moved to stretching near the doorway. "First time I've seen you actually warming up for a fight," he teased.

"The fight? Oh, I'm not warming up for the fight." She performed a one-two punch on an invisible enemy while bouncing up and down. "I'm warming up for the cameras AFTER the fight."

"Well, it's good to know you've got your priorities straight." Jack chuckled as he pulled on his jacket. "C'mon, let's get down there before Fowler comes to escort us personally." Miko gave him a playful shove and went hurtling down the hallway, Jack laughing as he followed more slowly.

* * *

><p>"'Bout time you two got here!" Fowler turned to face them, hands clasped behind his back. "Get suited up pronto, we've got a category four coming out of the Breach. Codename Darksteel."<p>

"A four?" Jack turned his head to look at Fowler as he passed. "Hold on, how big are we talkin' here?"

Fowler didn't look up from the computer monitor. "Big, Darby. Big enough to use the Space Needle as a toothpick."

He heard Miko whisper to him under her breath. "That'd be so cool if it wasn't gonna try'n kill us." He nodded absent-mindedly as they made their way to the docking station.

To the Jaeger.

It was an incredible feat of technology- Two co-pilots connecting mentally to become something bigger than themselves. Several hundred times bigger. Him and Miko had decided to call it Solus Prime. Alone and important. Jack had proposed it, saying that they could stand alone if they needed. Miko had shrugged and agreed on the terms that she be allowed to decorate it.

Solus had begun with a simple paint job- Black and gray paneling with a blue visor. It hadn't stayed that way long, it had only been a month before Miko had snuck in and painted on it. It was against the rules, per se, but everyone looked the other way. All the pilots did it and nobody had a problem with it as long as it didn't mess with the mechanics of the Jaeger.

Miko had dragged in several buckets of pink paint, scaled the Jaeger, and carefully painted some Japanese lettering on the shoulders. On the right shoulder she had painted the symbols for strength, and on the left shoulder, courage. Jack knew the others were taking bets on how long it would be before she snuck in again.

It was starting to look like her, Jack had joked, and had earned himself a punch on the shoulder, but she laughed along anyways.

They stood still as the armor clasped itself onto them. Out of the corner of his eye, Jack glimpsed a computer with a blurry still of the Kaiju.

He did a double-take. That thing WAS huge. The other Kaiju he had seen compared to the size of the breach had been maybe a fourth the size of the exit hole, this one was at least half the size.

"Darby, face forward." The attendant gently tapped the side of his head and Jack complied. "Miko, that Kaiju is at least twice the size of anything we've fought before."

"Sweet."

"Miko!"

His helmet snapped into place and the first thing he heard was Fowler's voice. "Darby, you'll also have the Optimus Pax team with you. "

"Oh, yeah, great." Jack shook his head at Miko.

"Ugh," Miko started. "Cliff's cool, but Arcee never really talks to me unless she's drifting with him. Then it's weird, 'cause it's her voice but it sounds more like stuff Cliff would say. Creeps me out."

"Solus Prime, you're still on the main line." Arcee's voice, tinged with irritation, rang over the comm. Jack smirked at Miko.

"Roger that, Pax." He said after Miko didn't offer a response.

He expected radio silence, but Cliff responded. "Mornin' Team Solus! Miko, how's it hangin' on your end?"

"The Drift is strong with this one."

"Attagirl."

Jack gave her a look and she shrugged. "What? Us lefties gotta stick together. Am I right, Cliff?"

There was a crackle of static before Cliff responded with a simple "Ten-Four," and Arcee interjected with "If we could please get back to the task at hand?"

"Roger, Optimus Pax. See you on the other side," and Jack cut the line. "Miko, you ready?"

"Yep!"

A new voice came over their comms. "Initiating Neural Handshake."

"Thanks, Ratch!"

The line was silent.

And then they closed their eyes, and for a split second, everything was dark.

Then Jack saw Miko. All of Miko. Her place in school, her dropping out of college, her running away from home, her parents' car crash, and her lost wandering before she finally joined the Jaeger program.

Miko saw Jack. His troubled high school years. Dabbling in drugs and illegal street racing after his dad disappeared. His working two jobs to support him and his mom. There was a fleeting memory of him punching through drywall during a mental breakdown just before he joined the Jaeger program.

And then Miko was Jack, and Jack was Miko. And Jack and Miko were Solus Prime.

Both of them opened their eyes at once, and both announced "Deploy" simultaneously.

"Neural Handshake successful. Deploying Solus Prime."

The Jaeger dropped into the ocean, and Miko and Jack began the march towards the breach.

"Well, it's about time you two got here!" The voice was joking, but it was also female.

Jack laughed, and Miko commented: "See, Arcee, I told you that you talked like Cliff."

"Fowler here! Optimus Pax, Solus Prime, do you copy?" A chorus of "Roger" rang out over the line. "Keep that Kaiju away from the shore. Drive it further into the sea if you have to. It could wipe out a good chunk of the city with tidal waves alone."

The two Jaegers continued the march. "Fowler, do we have any information on the Category Four?"

"It's big and it's heading for the West Coast. Expect surprises. Move fast."

A sarcastic "woohoo" escaped from Jack, and they waded further out. They kept moving forward for about 20 minutes. Jack and Miko idly wondered if maybe the deployment ship had gotten the wrong coordinates.

Then the ocean exploded.

A flurry of noise came from all directions. The Kaiju shrieked, the monitoring helicopters kicked into overdrive to stay out of the action, and the comm line was polluted with yelling from both teams and the base.

"Optimus Pax, Optimus Pax, Cat Four on your right!"

"Roger!"

"Stay between it and the coastline!"

"Don't let it get any closer!"

Jack and Miko quickly scanned the beast. Four legs, tail, no visible wing structures, spikes on the back, the head, and all the claws were long, razor-sharp, and heading straight for them.

They subconsciously had a plan in a matter of milliseconds.

Solus moved right, bringing itself closer to the Kaiju's chest, then grabbed the arm headed for them. They swung around, using the Darksteel's momentum against it. The beast toppled.

A battle cry rang out over the comm, and Optimus could be seen running towards them. The Jaeger's bright red paint caught the helicopter lights and cast a hellish, bouncing glow on the Kaiju. A blade was revealed on the Jaeger's wrist and was immediately plunged into the side of Darksteel.

"Woohoo!" Came Jack's voice over the comm, "That's a new record!"

"Nice job, you two, Fowler, can we-"

A scream on the line from Cliff cut Miko off. Solus' visuals showed Optimus Pax yanking the blade out of the Kaiju. Most of it was gone, a small chunk of the arm was still being eaten away. "Scrap, that thing's got acid!"

"Still kickin'!"

"Guns! Guns!"

The Kaiju grabbed Optimus' right leg and used it to pull itself up, throwing the Jaeger off balance. There was a whirring noise as the red Jaeger's plasma cannons began to charge. The Kaiju threw itself against the Jaeger, knocking it down.

There was another burst of chaos on the line between them, Arcee and Cliff had muffled grunts and the occasional cry of pain. Optimus Pax fired wherever it could, which, generally, was the underside of the beast. Solus' firepower joined the fray, and numerous scorch marks covered the Kaiju from every angle. "Keep it up, it's getting' tired!"

Fowler radioed in. "Optimus Pax, on your feet, now! I want that Kaiju down!"

Solus tangled with Darksteel as Optimus steadied itself and began shooting at the Kaiju again. Solus was thrust to the side, struggling to regain balance as the monster turned back to Optimus. Major acid marks covered the Jaeger, plating fell into the ocean in chunks. Wiring was exposed and the pink paint that read "Strength" had been smeared.

"Solus, do you copy? Solus! Report!"

There was silence.

"Solus, come in!"

There was a pause, then a crackle of static. "We're here. We're here. We're alright, we're still up."

Fowler released a breath he didn't know he was holding. "Back at it, then. You're almost done, soldiers."

Then there was a terrible sound, like everything they had just heard when the Kaiju was attacking them put together and then multiplied by ten. They heard metal wrenching and being torn apart in a long, seemingly unending sound, and then heard a scream even worse than the wrenching metal. It started with one voice, then the other joined it, and then one cut off suddenly. The other continued until it was choked by static. They watched what was left of Optimus Pax fall.

They did the only thing they knew they could and continued pounding the beast. There wasn't much of a plan at that point.

* * *

><p>"Solus, come in Solus. The Kaiju is dead. You can stop shooting it."<p>

"Fowler, who's left?" Jack's voice.

Silence.

Miko, this time, pleading. "Fowler, sir, please."

Fowler did not answer, rather, Ratchet, the head scientist and Chief Medical Officer, spoke.

"Cliff is dead. Arcee is physically stable, but we're not sure if her mind is with us. She was still in the Drift when he was lost. Her recovery is up to her now."

"Solus, I'm sending a retrieval ship." Fowler's voice was less demanding now, and held hints of sympathy and mourning.

* * *

><p>The next few weeks passed extremely slowly. The base was bleak. There was a funeral held, Cliff received highest honors. Arcee did not attend, though Jack expected it was because she was still in the medical ward.<p>

The first time he saw her again, she was standing in front of a wall, just staring at the plaque with his name on it. He continued on, not wanting to disturb her.

He left the mess hall an hour later. She hadn't moved.

Word got out that she was alright. She had survived. Jack saw news reports, people amazed at her and declaring how proud they were of her and of how strong she was. The airwaves were filled with people wishing her well.

A day later, she announced her resignation.


	2. Chapter 2

**It's been a few months, but I felt the urge to work on this again. If I stop updating and you want to see more, feel free to send me an angry PM!**

**Thanks to Connor for beta-reading for me.**

* * *

><p>The months passed, and with them went Kaiju and innocents. Only one pilot had died in the four months that followed Cliffjumper's death. Others had received serious injuries, but had lived regardless. The patients in the medical ward were growing restless, ready to get back to piloting.<p>

They would be needed soon. The Kaiju were appearing more often.

* * *

><p>Jack watched as Miko scratched tally marks into the door frame between their conjoined rooms. "Seven... Eight... Nine! Nine Kaiju, Jack. Nine." She pocketed her knife and backed up to admire her handiwork. "Nine."<p>

"Nine," Jack echoed, nodding, if only to see if she would stop muttering the number.

She frowned, fidgeting with the knife in her pocket. "Only nine."

"Only nine?" Jack raised an eyebrow. "We're one of the top teams around here. Nine's a lot."

"We should have ten. Ten's a double-digit. And it would even out the tallies." She tapped her chin. "Yeah, we should definitely have ten."

"Well, there hasn't been a Kaiju in a week. If Raf's right, we're due for another one soon." Jack crossed his arms and muttered under his breath. "Kaiju attacks have been more reliable than the weather lately."

"Awesome, we'll take down ten tomorrow." Miko mimicked making a slash through the tally marks. "I'm calling dibs in the mess hall today."

"Ratchet locked your passkey out of the intercom speakers."

"Yeah, but not yours!" Before Jack could blink, Miko had snatched his lanyard off his nightstand and made a bolt for the door. He rolled his eyes and trudged after her, fully knowing he'd have to bail her out when Fowler or Ratchet caught her.

* * *

><p>"Any minute now."<p>

"Not if you keep saying that."

Miko swung her legs, sitting on the edge of the bed in her pilot suit and staring intently at the siren hanging on the wall. "Three, two, one!" She stared expectantly for a moment. "One half... Three quarters..."

"Three quarters is more than one half."

"Shhhhush!" She whipped around and glared at Jack, who was currently stretched out on the bed, staring at the ceiling, arms crossed underneath his head. "Don't ruin it!" She turned back to the siren and restarted her countdown. "Ten... nine..."

"Are you counting down to the possible deaths of thousands of people?"

"Jack, you're totally killing my hype."

"Sorry, sorry."

She huffed, glaring at him a moment longer. She restarted her countdown from ten. After she hit zero and nothing happened, she flopped over backwards with an exasperated groan. "I am SO bored. I have GOT to kill something."

"Don't look at me." Jack shuffled his legs to get her pigtails off of his ankles.

Miko's gaze drifted up to the marks on the door frame. "We need ten."

"Really? You haven't told me."

"Do you think we could, like, summon a Kaiju?"

"Don't worry, Miko, I'm sure a creature of mass destruction will invade Earth any minute."

A shrill whine filled the room, the siren flashing red and screaming at them.

"Haha! Ten!" Miko jumped off the bed, tripped, and popped back up immediately. "Let's go, Jack, let's go!"

"Are you sure? You don't really seem like you're up for it."

"JACK. PLEASE."

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I'm ready, let's go."

* * *

><p>Sheets of rain pelted the Jaeger, threatening to smear the pink paint. "Strength" and "Courage" had both been ruined and repainted several times, "Survival" had been added along the chest. Miko had added it a week after Cliffjumper's passing.<p>

Jack had asked her about it. "Why now?" He questioned, "Why add that after he _didn't_?"

"Because," she said, passion in her eyes, "we did. We survived. Arcee survived. He survived, he's with us."

He nodded and that was the end of it.

Jack could feel that passion now, the burning desire to kill the next Kaiju. He felt the need to carve in the tenth tally mark, but beneath that, hidden, was the need to avenge Cliffjumper, and further beneath that, Jack felt emotions from hundreds of newspapers- some in English, some in Japanese, scanning the obituaries for familiar names...

"Do not chase the rabbit." Miko's frustrated voice snapped him out of it, and he knew she was grasping onto reality, pulling away from the Drift in an attempt to get Jack to stop digging through the mental newspapers. Her way of protecting him. The Jaeger was jerky for a moment before they re-synced.

The communications array came to life. "Solus, do you copy?"

Jack and Miko, both in sync again, spoke. "Ten-four, Conjunx."

"You're looking a little stiff, are you experiencing technical difficulties?"

"Just a hiccup-" Miko.

"Hiccup, but we're fine now." Jack finished.

"Roger that. Keep an eye out. The Kaiju's only a category two, so you shouldn't need us, but radio if you need backup."

"Understood, Chromedome, thanks for the support."

The radio went silent again, and Solus headed for the Breach. Helicopters trailed a ways behind them. They waded further in, and the longer they walked, the more Jack felt Miko's frustration grow. He dug out a bit of comfort from his mind, bringing it to the forefront, and Solus Prime's movements grew less stiff. "Just a little longer, it'll show."

* * *

><p>"Unidentified aircraft, please identify yourself." Static filled the radio, a pause from the other side before continuing. "You are approaching an area under guard by the United Nations. This is a dangerous area, repeat, this is a dangerous area, please identify and cease approach immediately." Static. The other line waited.<p>

The pilot's metal-clad finger pressed the mute button, silencing the attempts at communication, before he whispered to himself. "Oh, don't worry. You'll know who I am soon enough."

* * *

><p>"Solus, do you have a visual?"<p>

"Affirmative."

"Engage at will."

Miko's cheer could be heard across the communications network as the Jaeger charged the Kaiju. "Here we come, ten!"

Their planning took a little longer than normal, about two seconds in total, as Jack attempted to convince Miko of a strategy other than "punch it dead," and trying to remind her that it would punch back. Miko's retaliation- "Not if it can't punch," became their plan immediately.

The Kaiju- a large, shimmery gray beast resembling a stegosaurus with thin legs and antlers- launched itself at the Jaeger. Solus quickly backed out of its path and grabbed it by the right forearm in midair. In one quick stroke, the Jaeger lifted the beast up and slammed it back down into the water, dazing it.

Miko's moment of triumph, celebrated by rapidly punching the Kaiju, was interrupted by a transmission.

"Solus Prime, be advised of approaching unidentified aircraft."

Jack and Miko turned their visual screen upwards, searching the skies. After a few seconds, their HUD pointed to an unfamiliar jet streaking towards the area of the battle, identifying it as a make of plane used only by the United States military. Jack and Miko could hear Fowler attempting to raise them on the communications frequency, to no avail.

The plane passed clear over them before swinging back around. The visuals zeroed in on a projectile originating from the plane.

And it was heading straight for them.

"Unidentified aircraft, cease fire! Respond immediately or you will be shot down!"

"Fowler, wait!"

"They're firing at the Kaiju!"

Solus dropped the Kaiju, letting the projectile hit it. "Are you sure they aren't one of ours?"

Ratchet's gruff voice came over the line."Solus, that was not a missile."

There was a bit of frantic shuffling heard over the line, then Raf spoke. "Whatever it is, it's emitting its own communication signal."

"Quiet, you two! Unidentified aircraft, you have sixty seconds to respond before you are listed as a threat and dealt with accordingly!"

The radio finally crackled, and an unfamiliar voice responded. "Sixty seconds is plenty of time."

Immediately, Jack and Miko both associated the voice. Their shared thoughts rapidly flitted through the Drift. Politician. News channels. Interviews. Controversy. Religious. Possible insanity.

Megatron.

The Kaiju before them ceased all movement for a split second. Jack and Miko were immediately on the offensive, lunging for the Kaiju.

It was faster than they were.

It jumped out of the way, dodging each of their advances, one, two, three, four, five, before it found an opening and grabbed Solus' outstretched left leg and crushed it with ease.

Jack felt white-hot pain, but immediately recognized it was not his own. He heard Miko choking, crying out, and then the pain just stopped. He felt hardly any awareness of the Jaeger's left leg.

Everything was moving in slow motion. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Miko slumped over, standing limply, supported only by the Jaeger tech holding her in place. In his main vision, the Kaiju moved towards them, seeming to test its limbs further. His eyes rolled up, the unidentified plane was imitating the Kaiju's movement.

He was dimly aware of screaming over the communications array, and faintly recalled that he needed to say something, but he couldn't for the life of him remember what. He was also somewhat aware that the Kaiju's gray hide seemed to fill his HUD, and various pains were making their way through his body. That didn't seem right.

Something in the back of his mind pressed forward, and he heard himself speak. "Conjunx Endura, Solus Prime... requesting... backup..."

He stared up, squinting as the Kaiju moved out of the way of the visual screen, and saw the plane, flying lower now.

A man, Megatron, fastened into a metal suit similar to Jack's own pilot suit, looked out from the plane. It circled the site of the battle, seeming to observe the Jaeger and the Kaiju. Jack followed the man's eyes to see what he was looking at.

A probe, near the Kaiju's secondary brain.

He looked back and saw Megatron's victorious smirk, saw him mouth "It worked."

And then everything went black.


	3. Chapter 3

"Alright, soup's up!" A smug-looking man took a step onto a crate, bullhorn in hand. "…for three lucky men who feel up to some potentially life-threatening construction work! You work, you eat!" The crowd was unfazed, rather used to these supposedly shocking statements by now. A few of the newcomers shifted uncomfortably. The man paused for a moment before pointing across the warehouse. "We got ourselves a fancy desk! Head on over and they'll decide who's up for what today."

Arcee shuffled over with the crowd, pushing past a few people here and there. She waited in the line, watching the few in front of her get turned away, then found herself standing in front of the desk.

The foreman looked her over once and then waved her away. "Next."

Arcee's only movement was to lean on the desk, glaring daggers straight at the foreman. "I can hold my own. I was a jaeger pilot."

He didn't flinch. "Yeah, well, here you're the same dirt as the rest of us, superwoman, and you ain't what we're looking for."

She held eye contact a moment longer before snarling and storming off. Dirt. She was dirt. Her worn, filthy clothing had lost its color to dust and she had blended with the rabble. A sea of dirt. Dirty faces, dirty hair, dirty clothes. She couldn't help but wonder if she had done this to herself, if she could have toughed it out in the jaeger program, but she shook her head and reminded herself that any other partner would likely get killed due to her distraction.

She shuffled out of the large hangar, eyes on the ground, when her hair began whipping around her face and her rough clothing danced in the strong winds. Her gaze lifted to meet a helicopter landing near the warehouse on the assigned helipad—Government only. She watched for a minute more, out of curiosity or merely for a distraction she wasn't sure.

Then a familiar face appeared from the interior, and she stood in shock for a minute as he began showing a paper to several people nearby, a few nodded, likely hopeful for ration cards, but shortly looked disappointed and quickly moved on.

One man looked around for a moment before stopping and making eye contact with her, then pointing the government agent in her direction. Without thinking, she threw her hood up and began moving quickly in the other direction.

"Arcee, stop! I just want to talk to you!"

Her only reply was breaking into a sprint and heading for the city. She darted into an alleyway, pausing to see if she was being pursued. A quick over-the-shoulder glance revealed Fowler and a few of his men giving chase. She turned and ran, twisting left and right until she found herself at a chain-link fence guarding an apartment waste area. A swear escaped under her breath and she started climbing.

A hand wrapped around her left ankle. She braced her upper body on the railing, twisted at the waist to weaken the man's grip, then slammed her right heel down on his wrist. He let go with a cry of pain as she rolled herself over the top of the fence.

"Still at the top of your game."

She turned, glaring at the agent. "I'm not coming back, Fowler."

"Please, I just want to talk. There's a meal in it for you."

She hesitated, hating herself for having fallen this far, hating this man for representing everything she was running from, and hating that she was considering bringing up bad memories just so she could eat that day.

And she climbed back over the fence.

* * *

><p>"He's a lot like you."<p>

"I wouldn't know. We didn't talk much."

"Exactly."

She stared blankly at her soup, running circles through it with her spoon. She didn't want to go back to the Jaeger program, she didn't want to drift with anybody… but the news that the program had cut off new recruits changed things.

The idea that she was replaceable helped keep her guilt away, but now she was one of the few people capable of piloting.

"We think you two will be compatible. Both of you have suffered a major loss recently. We also…" he hesitated, and Arcee found herself looking up to search his face and intentions, but the man was stone. "We also think this may be a way to rehabilitate both of you. The drift could force you two to come to terms with each other's losses and, eventually, your own."

Her response was deadpan. "Or it could be an echo chamber of misery and get us both killed."

Fowler was silent. Arcee continued eating.

Eventually, he leaned forward, steepling his fingers in front of his face. "Arcee," he began, "this isn't only about you."

"I know."

"This is about the world. It needs you." Fowler paused to see if she would react. When she didn't, he continued. "Would Cliff want you here, or in a Jaeger?"

Arcee abruptly stood and placed both hands on the table. "Listen to me. My decisions are just that: Mine. They are not yours, they are not Cliff's, they are mine. If I want to be here, I will. If I want to pilot a Jaeger, I will."

Fowler nodded slowly, silently letting her continue.

"And right now? I want to kill something, and you had sure as hell hope it's a Kaiju."

A trace of a smile formed on his face. "That can be arranged."

* * *

><p>Hydraulics gave way to footsteps as the door opened and Agent Fowler walked in. "Ratchet, has there been any progress on the probe?"<p>

"There would be more if he would stop asking me every ten minutes…" Ratchet grumbled to himself.

Rafael snickered and turned from the probe to the computer. "Good luck, Ratchet."

The doctor straightened, bumped his head on the light positioned above the table, and swore loudly before turning to face Fowler. "Hm, yes, somewhat… residual material is from the secondary brain… which implies—"

"Which implies that they were accessing the Kaiju's subconscious. I picked that up from watching what the helicopter cameras gathered."

Ratchet snarled a "If you would let me _finish_," and Fowler nodded.

"The secondary brain, the subconscious, from what we know, is a mess of different connections. Some we have traced, some we have not. Now, previously, we assumed the unidentified aircraft was attempting to gather data about Kaiju, however, after these findings…" He glanced to Rafael, who nodded to him from his station. "I believe they were attempting to… connect with the Kaiju."

Fowler looked skeptical. "Connect with it."

"Yes, that's what I said." Ratchet looked ready to snap, and at this point Rafael laid a hand on his shoulder and picked up.

"Agent Fowler, my analysis on the probe indicates that it wasn't only transmitting information to the culprits. It was also receiving information from them. It was a two-way stream, like a phone call."

Fowler looked skeptical. "You're telling me that an F-22 flew into the middle of a Kaiju battle to ask it what it wanted for dinner?"

"I'm not sure what exactly they were doing, but… the Kaiju started improving its attacks after the probe hit it. I think… I think they were…" Rafael trailed off, looking over to his computer screen to avoid eye contact.

"They were _what_?"

"I think they were drifting with it."


End file.
